Not Receiving E-Mail Alerts

Not Receiving E-Mail Alerts

There are a couple of things that can hinder the receiving of E-Mail notifications. Redline has a simple built-in SMTP engine which delivers email.  It does not just relay to another SMTP gateway by default (there is an option to configure a relay).  In the Configuration section under Notification, if an E-mail address is listed and no SMTP Relay input, Redline does an MX lookup and then makes a connection to the mailserver listed in the MX record.  This presents a possible firewall problem.  To resolve this, outbound SMTP traffic would need to be allowed so an MX lookup could be performed.  After the lookup, Redline will then connect to the mailserver listed in the MX record to deliver the notification. Why doesn't Redline just relay? In the past, relaying was the solution.  However, what happens if the GWIA is the Agent that is down, or the server the agent is on is down or abended?  Relaying would not work at this point because the object that needs to respond (the GWIA) is down or unresponsive.  By including an SMTP engine in Redline, it is possible to send to other email accounts like a cell phone, or PDA, accounts that are not part of the monitored system.  This increases the chance of the message getting received.

This article was originally published in the GWAVA knowledgebase as article ID 924.